My daily rant is that I slipped on the icy parking lot while hobbling to my car. I should be sore and have a good bruise on my left knee tomorrow. My left hip will also be sore because of the fast twist before hitting the pavement. But I never dropped my purse or the two china coffee cups I was carrying! :D Now, I will printing out the form for the placard and taking it to the neuro's office tomorrow or early next week when I pick up my monthly RX. That was a good way to get me in motion for doing that! :o

Arrgghhh Wiz…your hip will not be a happy camper for sure. Use that placard always-even if you feel well going into a store, you never know how'll you'll feel by the time you come back to the car. Take it from the voice of experience;)

Hope you recover from your slip soon…good job on not dropping your china!

So sorry Wiz. :hug:. I hope you don't pay for being such a graceful tumbler.
I would have dropped everything and probably skidded into the path
of an oncoming bus.:D

I just made my dad go see his cardiologist. Turned out to be nothing, but I'm not sorry.

My dad's left arm has been swollen for the past week. My dad just pointed this out to me when we were at a restaurant eating lunch. It was noticeably swollen. My dad got a pacemaker last august, and the stuff they gave us to read about it, said that if he had any swelling in the left arm, that there was potential for a blood clot, and you should have it checked out if there was any swelling. So, I made him go.

They did an ultrasound on his arm, and said there was nothing wrong there. Dad thinks he hurt it when he was at the grocery store. Said he whacked it on a shopping cart, and he keeps bumping it. The doctor thought that's probably how he hurt it, but he did say that it's a good thing that I made my dad go get it checked out, because just looking at the arm, he would have been concerned too.

Seeing how today probably would have been the last day the office would be open for the next week too because they pretty much close for Xmas next week. Good thing we went today. (they'd be open, but it's half days for just two days)

Now I don't have to sit here and be worried all weekend about his arm swelling. Dad's a little peeved that I made him go, but after I explained my reasons for it, he did say that I was right to make him go. He just didn't really want to go when I made him do it. (I called his cardiologist's office, told the nurse what was going on, and she talked to my dad and convinced him to come get it checked) So, nope...not sorry that we wasted our afternoon at his doctor's office. They got him in and out pretty quickly actually.

When it comes to parent's health, I'm not screwing around and waiting on stuff like I do for myself.

My mom nearly died on thanksgiving. She had some sort of weird internal bleeding. Her hemoglobin was 5 when we took her in. They had to give her 4 units of blood, and she was close to having a heart attack because of it. Still don't know exactly what caused her problem. She got a letter from the doctor today telling her it was probably related to her using aspirin.

Absolutely you did the right thing with your Dad, Erin.
All too often people dismiss things like that and end up in critical condition...or worse.
It is always better to be safe than sorry, especially when folks get older and have pre-existing conditions.

Glad that it turned out well and that you can all relax now over the holidays :).

With love, Erika

Aspirin can be powerful. I take the equivalent of a baby aspirin daily, that is, l/4 of a "regular" non-coated aspirin. I powder it and mix it with cream and rub it into my skin. Some say I absorb it that way and others say I don't, but I have evidence that I do. Recently, someone on the Polycythemia Vera forum I go to said that taking a whole aspirin daily (equivalent of 4 baby ones) would help with foot pain. I tried it for five days, and then I had a nose bleed. This is not something I ordinarily do, that is, have a nosebleed.
So I went back to my usual dose. Those with Polycythemia Vera (PV) usually take aspirin unless their innards rebel. My innards rebel, but I am not harmed by rubbing it into the skin.

Ouch Wiz!!! :hug: Hope you feel better soon!

Erin, so glad you made him go in!

Erin, so glad you were the wiser head and called the doctor's office. Dad's always want to be so strong and take care of others. For most men it's just part of their nature.

Glad that they finally decided what caused your Mom's low hemoglobin.

I think I am going to have to switch to chewable baby aspirin. Almost daily I am seeing a little yellow tablet in my stool. I guess I need to go add that to my list of things to talk about when I have my annual physical in a couple of weeks.

my dad remembered that my mom's biological father died from unexplained stomach bleeding. (he died when mom was 2. She doesn't remember him) Think my mom's sister reminded my dad of that when they talked on the phone the other night. So, dad has to remember to tell the doctor about that when they go back.

For sure that should be put on her medical file...in BIG letters. That is nothing to mess around with and is often missed because the bleeding doesn't always show up on occult stool tests.
Some GI bleeding can occur on the outside of the intestines, colon and even in the liver, so it doesn't show up in the stool, especially if there is a perforation.
Good thing that your aunt mentioned it.

With love, Erika